ANA DEL BARRIO Madrid
Madrid
Updated Thursday, February 15, 2024-00:04
A long time ago he stopped being Guille, the boy from 'Los Serrano', to become
one of the most solid musical directors in this country
. He now returns to the Luchana theaters with the play '#YoSustenido', in which he narrates his condition as a broken toy.
ASK
. What do we discover about you in this autobiographical piece?
ANSWER
. In the play I get naked more than I originally wanted, but I am very grateful because it is helping me a lot. The director, Fran Perea, has had a very important role in making this happen.
Q.
The poster for the performance talks about "sonata for a broken toy."
R.
_ We talk about the stigma of broken toys, which is not a problem of the person, but rather society, which brands that person as a broken toy. I like to give an example that is the typical teddy bear whose eye breaks, but the child continues playing with it all his life. That toy is not broken, but will be when the child stops playing with it. And we named it sonata because of the whole issue I have with music.
Q.
What instruments do you play?
R.
_ The keyboards. I have been absent from my role as an actor all these years because I am dedicating myself to music. It is my passion, my work and my life.
Q.
What is the prejudice about you that bothers you the most?
R.
_ The one that if you don't appear on TV, you are nobody and you are not happy. And I am very happy being in the back of the music. And on top of that I'm doing very well. I direct the Cadena Dial awards and many other things. I have a position of responsibility, but, in front of the people, you are not the singer and you are not in the focus. We dismantled that part quite a bit. Life is not easy for anyone. When they see you on TV, they think that everything is easier because they don't know the whole behind the scenes.
Q.
At the age of 20 you went through a bad period and you were a ship adrift.
R.
_ Yes effectively. I have been extremely lucky that all the people I have next to me have always put a net in place for me, what happens is that I have been on the verge of breaking it several times. To this day, I live it as a learning experience.
Q.
Did you hit rock bottom?
R.
_ But it was a very personal background of not feeling comfortable with what I was doing and, therefore, I was failing a lot of people.
Q.
In this work you are directed by Fran Perea. What is it like for your bosom friend to be your boss?
R.
_ It's wonderful and very fun because Fran directs me in this play, but I direct the musical tour of it. We exchange roles.
Q.
Well, it can't be easy, right?
R.
_ We are both very obedient and we admire each other a lot. It fills my mouth to say that Fran Perea is one of the best actors in this country by far. Watching Fran move on stage is magic. He also knows what I am like musically. When we have to agree, we do it. For me it has been a
masterclass
.
Q.
Has it been a while since you did theater?
R.
_ About five or six years. But I had never faced a monologue like that. It's been pretty
heavy
.
Q.
What would be the message of the work?
R.
_ That success is not about being on TV and being famous, but about being comfortable.
Q.
Do you feel more comfortable as a musical director than as an actor?
R.
_ Yes, I have been more comfortable in that position for many years. It's true that now the acting bug has bitten me again. I have spent many years having acting as a passionate job, and music as a hobby. And now it's the other way around. Being happy is not all that everyone is expecting from you, but for you to be well. It is a profession that has ups and downs: either you live very well or you don't make ends meet.
Q.
It is true that in this country it is difficult to accept that someone can be good in several facets.
R.
_ It's something that happens only here. In the United States, people are very used to the cabinetmaker later becoming a luxury businessman or the writer suddenly opening a coffee shop. Here we are afraid of having our places usurped.
Q. You direct the Fran Perea
1+1 son 20
tour
, a tribute to the Los Serrano album, which takes place on Friday, February 23 at La Riviera.
R.
_ 2023 and 2024 are years of reunions. We have always felt very proud of our past. And, for that reason, we recover it, we remake it from another point of view and we enjoy it.
Q.
Are there guest artists?
R.
_ It is an album in which Fran Perea tries to make a union of the eras of music. For example, on one song he collaborates with La Oreja de Van Gogh, who composed the song
Qué va va ser
para el 20 years ago. We bring together people from that era with others who are starting out and who have a connection because they have seen the series. We make a pretty fun tour and even more so now that there is a nostalgic
remember
.
Q.
It's funny because children now watch Los Serrano again. Why do you think it is fashionable?
R.
_ Everything talked about in the series is timeless. Everything that happens to kids in high school is what happens to all kids of all generations. In the end they are timeless problems: love, friendship, family and social status.
Q.
Do you remember how many hams you ate while filming?
R.
_ Well, in five years, one per year at least.
Q.
You received brutal fame when you were only 12 years old, which is a very complicated age. How did you live it?
R.
_ You don't realize it either. You are more aware when you are older. But when you're already in that rhythm of work, you don't know anything else. That was normal. And, after you grow up, you start to think about what you missed, but I gained many other things.
Q.
Were you as disobedient as in the series?
R.
_ Sometimes yes and sometimes no. It was pretty good, not like the show, but we all have bad times.
Q.
What exactly does a musical director do?
R.
_ If it is directed by an artist, I generate the show, that is, the order of the songs, the links and the dynamics. I also make the scores for the musicians, the arrangements of the songs, because the live song never sounds the same as it does on the record, right? You have to turn it around. In the case of galas, I have to manage the artists and their bands and see what songs they want to sing.
Q.
How do you bring order to the chaos of a tour?
R.
_ For me, what has been essential for a few years now is the routine of getting up early. That is my greatest order. I must be one of the few musicians who gets up at 6:30. But he puts me where I need to be. Nightlife has gradually disappeared from the life of the musician and that thing of the scrupulous artist has been lost.
Q.
Did sex, drugs and rock and roll go down in history?
R.
_ It no longer works.
Q.
What is the work that is not seen on the tour?
R.
_ The number of hours we spent in a van. People think: "he played for two hours and won I don't know how much." To play two hours in Galicia, you have spent seven hours in the van, four hours of sound, two hours of concert and another seven hours back. You have a lot of van work, but then you use it for a thousand things like shopping.
Q.
Which musicians are the most undisciplined?
R.
_ Maybe I would throw stones at my own roof. For example, we pianists can have it a bit easier. The drums and bass cannot fail. And guitarists and pianists can cover each other more. I am lucky that I work with wonderful people who are all true bugs that I learn from every day and are very disciplined.
Q.
You were also the keyboardist for Taburete, Willy Bárcenas' band.
R.
_ It was a wonderful stage. I also directed them and I always say that it is one of these groups that deserves success because they have fought against prejudices and against everyone until they showed how good they are. When musicians have been around for so many years and fill the Wizink it is no longer a coincidence. They have a very cool energy. Talent and study come together with them.
Q.
Who is the artist from whom you have learned the most?
R.
_ From Pablo López, probably because he is a singer and pianist too. I toured with him for a year and it is one of the tours where I have learned the most.
Q.
I have also read that you are the Queen's second cousin. Do you see each other at family meals?
R.
_ Yes, but we haven't seen each other for many years.
Q.
Do you know that you are one of the most envied men in this country?
R.
_ Because?
Q.
For your wedding with Ana Guerra.
R.
_ Oh yeah! Wonderful! I'm very glad.
Q.
Does it bother you that you went from being the boy of Los Serrano to Ana Guerra's boyfriend?
R.
_ I don't think he is Ana Guerra's boyfriend, honestly. I don't feel that way at all. Once again, the media can do whatever they want. In fact, at the beginning, she and I talked a lot about what this was going to be like. Contrary to all surprise, there are more articles with Ana Guerra and Víctor Elías than Ana Guerra's boyfriend or Víctor Elías' girlfriend. In any case, since we have everything very clear at home, we leave our egos out. If I am Ana Guerra's boyfriend I couldn't be luckier.
Q.
She said that composing from happiness is not easy at all, but that love has achieved it. Are the best songs more about heartbreak?
R.
_ Yes. It is easier for someone to identify with how bad things are than with how good things are. Great songs are always composed from there, but Ana has found a very beautiful point from which she composes and is giving it new forms.
Q.
Will you play a song together?
R.
_ We try not to mix too much. He also directed her tour and that's mixing things up. I don't get involved with everything that has to do with study. I just listen and learn. If you get too involved, the boyfriend thing can happen.
Q.
Well, also seeing what happened with Rosalía and Raw Alejandro, it's almost better not to bring it up. As soon as the song was published, they broke up together.
R.
_ It is better not to take anything out.
Q.
What has been the hardest moment of your life?
R.
_ The death of my parents. It's something you seem to be preparing for, but you're not. My father died when I was 16 and my mother died two years ago. You always have a void left. You have things left to say and things that haven't been said to you. But I have a lot of dark humor and I always try to bring out the positive side.
Q.
Have you ever been bankrupt?
R.
_ Yes, I was totally broke. When I decided to be a musician, I went to live in Cádiz and set up a music studio. I had a problem here in that they didn't pay me a sick leave that they had to pay me and I was counting on that money and I was ruined. I was left at zero in the account. I tell it in the show. I had a bolus of 60 euros and with those 60 euros I lived for 15 days. But I went to live in Cádiz with two friends who are like two brothers and they taught me to live like that. But I didn't lose my house. If it happened to me again I would take flight again. Money is not everything and with less you can do more sometimes.